Fantastic Mr. Fox review (2009, Anderson)

I had my doubts about this stop motion masterpiece until I heard the soundtrack and instantly fell in love. After hearing the soundtrack I swiftly went and watched the film and it was like falling in love with the soundtrack all over again because it just fit into the film so insanely perfectly it was just perfection. 

In addition to the soundtrack the voice work of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman and many other amazing actors are just so on throughout the whole film. This may be down to the fact that Anderson got them to act it out as if it were a live action movie but whether it is that or not the film is just awesome.

The film is an adaptation of the children's novel of the same name written by Roald Dahl. It is about a fox family that act as human but still recognize that they are animals. So it's rather odd at times but just makes the film more lovable and enjoyable.

My rating for this is (very obviously) five out of five stars and I would and do recommend this film to anyone that lives and breaths. I cannot tell enough people to go and watch this film.

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This Is The End (Rogen and Goldberg, 2013)

I watched this because I used to have a major crush on James Franco (not so much now since he shaved his head) and I rather like Seth Rogen in 50/50 so I thought that I would give this a go.

This Is The End is a 2013 comedy apocalyptic film starring Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride. There is also many a famous person doing cameos including Micheal Cera, Paul Rudd and many more.

Basically, the film centers around Seth and Jay's friendship as it has deteriorated since they have been apart and Seth has made lots of new Hollywood friends, especially James Franco. They go to Franco's house party when suddenly apocalypse alert and the six main stars (seen on the poster) have to survive the apocalypse together and work to get along, especially Jay who did not want to go to the party a part with these people, let alone spend an apocalypse with them.

Overall, this film was not as good as I expected it to be. It had its humorous moments, especially when one of the stars gets slightly possessed and they get slightly robbed by a particular British actress. For me the highlight was the (hopefully) amped up caricature of himself that Franco plays. I would recommend this film to anyone that wants a light film to watch on the evening of a busy day as it just very easy to watch and enjoy.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Film.vs.Life - what do we expect?

Everybody thinks they know that Films and life are separate entities but do they really know this? I question this because we all expect our lives to turn out as we see characters in the movies lives turn out. Whether that is with a happy ending or not. We take inspiration from what we see in films, whether that is good or bad. Should we really be doing this, as this surely leads our expectations to the level that cannot compete with the lives that we lead. The people behind the characters don't lead perfect lives, how can they? If anything they are worse than us because everyone wants to know every detail of their personal life, down to what diet they're on or what underwear they're wearing.
Life isn't a film, it won't always end happily ever after the way that Hollywood seems to be telling us. Maybe we should all watch more documentary style films or independent films that deal with gritty subject matter and completely go against the trends of Hollywood.
But we, as a group, don't want this. The reason that Hollywood is the 'world famous Hollywood' is because we use film to escape our lives and Hollywood releases some of the films that are the farthest way out of our reality. The only thing is that somewhere along the way we have realised that life is not a film yet we expect it to be one.
Maybe Indie films aren't the answer, maybe it's animated films. They aren't real, I mean the characters barely even change their clothes but even they seem to be getting to look more realistic. My example of this is the Pixar Short 'The Blue Umbrella', that short is the most realistic animation I have ever seen. Well, up to the point in which the Umbrella's eyes open, it kind of loses the reality of the picture (the actual image on screen, not the fact that Umbrella's don't have eyes).

 As much as you guys reading this may think I'm ranting, I'm not (or at least trying not to). I'm just questioning where the films end and reality begins, because those lines have been blurred somewhere along the way. My confession to all this, is that as much as I try not to, I still expect my life to turn out like a Disney movie.

Top 10 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer' episodes

Introducing my top 10 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer' episodes(and the crowd goes wild). It is never too late to start watching Buffy, as long as you can stop and look past the 90's of it all (it's mainly in the costume).

1. Once more with feeling - Season 6, episode 7. This is a musical episode that I like to think of as the build up to my favorite Joss Whedon creation 'Dr Horrible's sing along blog'. It is written and directed by Whedon and has the entire main cast singing and dancing to some seriously catchy songs (my favorite is either 'Rest in Peace' sung by James Marsters or 'I'll never tell' sung by Nicholas Brendan and Emma Caulfield)

2. Doppelgangland - Season 3, episode 16. The return of alternate Universe Vampire Willow. Again this episode was written and directed by Whedon so that Allyson Hannigan could dress up all vampy again and add a little bit of foreshadowing for future events in the series. Hannigan has also said that this is one of her favorite episodes.

3. Innocence - Season 2, episode 14. Buffy once again has to face one of the many 'big bads' of the series - the judge, brought to Sunnydale by Drusilla and spike. This is possibly the third most heartbreaking episode on this list, especially if you get invested in characters like I do (which is very much so)

4. Becoming (part 2) - Season 2, episode 21. This episode is dangerous, especially when watching it in the morning before having to go to class because you will cry (like number 3, it depends on how invested you are in the characters). This episode just shows the acting ability of both Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz as they both create such strong emotion. I'll stop here as this is one that I do not want to spoil for anyone who doesn't know anything about the buffyverse - Angel wise. (this is probably joint first most heartbreaking with the another episode in this list)

5. Hush - Season 4, episode 10. This is the most terrifying episode of the series, the gentleman are the creepiest monsters in the buffyverse and their sidekicks are probably the creepiest sidekicks of the buffyverse. This episode is a mini silent film, the characters are all silenced by the gentlemen. Which means this episode has a soundtrack that just creates moods on the click of the play button. (small warning, if prone to nightmares do not watch before bed. You can ask any Buffy fan, they will tell you the same thing)

6. The Body - Season 5, episode 16. The most distinctive and my favorite part of the episode is when Buffy finds the body as their is a sequence shot with no soundtrack (and no cuts for those that do not know what a sequence shot is). This small aspect of the episode makes a huge emotional impact, as it amplifies the vulnerability of Buffy. This episode is a real display of the support and love the Scoobies give Buffy.

7. Who Are You? - Season 4, episode 16. One of the funniest episodes on this list. Faith takes over Buffy's body. The best thing about it is Sarah Michelle Gellar getting to play the part of Faith - the bad slayer, and I mean seriously bad. In addition to this Eliza Dushku gets to be Buffy, which always reminds me of her characters in dollhouse as they are all so, the opposite of Faith.

8. When She Was Bad - Season 2, episode 1. Buffy returns to Sunnydale after going to LA for the Summer. She returns as a much meaner, distant Buffy because of her *SPOILER* dying in the finale of season 1 at the hands of the master. This is such a new perspective on Buffy, it allows the audience to see her darker side because everyone has one including the Slayer (maybe that should be especially the Slayer, you decide).

9. Gone - Season 6, episode 11. This episode unlike the rest on the list was directed and written by David Fury. None the less, this episode is hilarious, especially when the make Xander walk in on Spike being, lets say, busy with the invisible Buffy. This is just a very funny episode, another good bit is the reveal of the trio's identities to Buffy.

10. Family - Season 5, episode 6. This is the only episode which concentrates on Amber Benson's character Tara. The episode concentrates on Tara's place in the scooby gang, which at the beginning of the episode doesn't seem to exist, but by the end of the episode the audience as well as Tara is shown that she does have a place in the gang, as part of their family.

Also, special shout out to the episodes that I wish could be in my top ten (stupid list limitations):

- Tabula Rasa - Season 6, episode 8

- Helpless - Season 3, episode 12

- Smashed - Season 6, episode 9

- Nightmares - Season 1, episode 10

- Chosen - Season 7, episode 22

- Bargaining (part 2) - Season 6, episode 2

Cabin in the Woods (Goddard, 2012) - Review

After two years of having rather conflicted feelings about the want to see this film I have finally seen Cabin in the Woods! When it first came out I wanted to see it because it was written by Joss Whedon but then I took one look at the poster and decided this was not for me. Then recently my friend told my that Fran Kranz (Dollhouse and Much Ado About Nothing) was in it and I just had to see it. 

The basic story is that of a usual teen creature feature, a group of teenagers go to a family members cabin up in the woods for a week to find out that it is not all that it seems. The similarities stop there because along with this story line we are shown a trio of scientists who are up to something not quite right but what we do not know at least for a little while. 

This Film may be in the genre of a horror but never have I laughed so hard at a so called horror movie. This would mostly be because of the brilliant writing of Joss Whedon but even more than that, the performance of Fran Kranz. Those of you that have seen dollhouse imagine Topher Brink on drugs.

Overall, I would recommend this film to a fan of horror but mostly to a fan of Joss Whedon's writing as it is very prominent in this film. The only thing I would say is that if you can't stand horror films then maybe give this one a pass because it is in the horror genre for a reason, it isn't all laughs.

RATING: 8/10 

(Everything in this post is my own opinion)

Saving Mr Banks (2013, Hancock) - Review

This film just made me fall in love with Walt Disney and his madness all over again. This film tells the story of how Walt Disney came across the story of Mary Poppins and convinces P.L.Travers to allow him the rights to her book in order for him to create his classic 'Mary Poppins'. Obviously we all know how it ends but this film does an amazing job at showing us the 20 year (yes, it was that long) struggle it took Disney to retrieve the rights to make the Classic we know today.

First of all, Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney which to me is just perfection (my two favorite famous people smooshed into one and making perfection) and manages to capture Disney's madness and childlike wonder in this wonderful feel good film. Also, Emma Thompson does an amazing job playing P.L.Travers, which you don't realise until the end credits where you hear the actual recordings of Travers in her meetings with the writers of 'Mary Poppins'. These two actors are both amazing on there own but together with their equally exquisite portrayals of their characters make for a perfect performance all the way through this film.

 This film was mostly filmed at in southern California, especially at Disney Studios in Burbank and Disney Land California (which would have been the only Disney land open at the time in which the movie was set). I think this was a nice touch as it added to the authenticity of the film put across by the performance of the actors.

Overall, this film was just so heart warming I think my heart may have actually melted a little bit. It gave a different view of the 'Mary Poppins' film and allowed you to see it in a similar light to how Travers may have seen it (with more love for the film than she had). It is very hard for me to say anything negative about this film as it had such a magical mesmerising effect on me. Just five stars all round for me, it lived up to my expectations of it, I never lost interest and even now I feel as though I need to re-watch it again and again on repeat for days.

Chance (Benson, 2002) - Review

Chance is an independent film directed, written and produced by Amber Benson (best known for her role as Tara Maclay in Buffy the Vampire Slayer). This film has a weird yet sweet plot and the same goes for the story of it's creation. As an independent film Benson funded this film by herself with help from her family and friends but after a while the money wasn't enough. This lead to Benson calling upon her fans to help fund her new project and they came through because in 2002 Chance was released. This film was never picked up for distribution by a big distribution company like many other independent films so Benson distributed it herself.

The film itself has a non-linear timeline so if you struggle with movies that do this (an example of this could be memento, an extreme example but one none the less) you may struggle with the beginning half hour of this film. Don't let this put you off though because once you get past the possible confusion you get to the real story of Chance. Chance (Amber Benson) is a twenty-something year old who has Simon (James Marsters) living on her couch. It is revealed later that Simon is Chance's best friend, although it is clear to the audience her realisation of it makes her character seem more realistic. Chance, herself is a strong individual that gets scared by a drug addicted girl overdosing on her bed. Both Simon and Chance are mortified by this incident and find comfort in each other but this as you can imagine doesn't go very well and the two have a fight. From this point the audience get conflict, realisation and a relate-able viewing of life as the movie develops. (I'm going to stop before I spoil it)

From the first five minutes of watching this film you can tell it is independent. The use of Benson's camera shots, the picture quality, and the overall content of the film tells you this. But also, it is the reality of the film that makes it clear this is not a blockbuster, it is very real and easily related to which makes the ending even better. This film was captivating, intriguing and very funny, I just could not stop watching it for even a second. Benson really surpassed my expectations of this film. Plus for all the Buffy fans out there: costume, sets and actors all appear throughout the film (so keep your eyes peeled). 

Recommendation: Over 15, because of the content and language but otherwise most people would enjoy this film, especially if you like the conventions of independent film and spotting things from other productions. 

Link to the Chance website: http://www.chancemovie.com